Making The Case For Youth At Left Guard

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For more than a week, Bill Nagy has been the Dallas Cowboys’ starting left guard. He started against the Chargers, playing well enough to draw praise from head coach Jason Garrett and owner Jerry Jones, and is back with the first team this week. He replaced fourth round pick David Arkin, who started there in the team’s preseason opener.

Which makes us wonder, if the team is indeed high on Nagy (as evidenced by his starting for the last week) and Arkin (evidenced by his starting the first game, and everything we’ve heard out of Valley Ranch), where does veteran Montrae Holland fit in?

Holland was named the starter after Leonard Davis was released and Kyle Kosier was moved to the right side to help rookie Tyron Smith--we’re just not really sure why.

The 31-year-old has had opportunities to play in the past, and he’s seemingly never done anything to win such confidence from the team--not that we can see, anyway--except for merely playing, being a veteran, where the team’s only other options are youngsters. And when it comes to veterans versus youngsters, offensive line coach Hudson Houck almost always chooses the former.

But if there was a scenario out there in which Houck would reverse this trend, this would be a pretty good candidate. Nagy has played well. Arkin has played well. So has Phil Costa, the backup center who’s seen snaps at the guard position in practice. Meanwhile, Holland has been day-to-day for nearly three weeks now with a nagging back injury, and it’s looking more and more like this camp could represent another missed opportunity for Holland, one that should probably end with the veteran returning to the role he’s best known for in Dallas--a solid backup.